


Forever sleeping under the stars

by GhostyGirl01



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Feels, Idk if he was a major character??, Morty is sad inside, Pets, Silent goodbyes, Snuffles was a good pupper, reflections
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-02
Updated: 2017-11-02
Packaged: 2019-01-28 14:57:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12609184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostyGirl01/pseuds/GhostyGirl01
Summary: In this reality, Snuffles isn't given the intelligence enhancer and lives out his life in the Smith residence.





	Forever sleeping under the stars

Morty sat on the floor by the couch, one hand gently ruffling the white fluffy mass that sat upon it. The TV was on but it was muted so that the rest of the house wasn’t disturbed by the blaring guitar music or the sound of gunfire as Ball Fondelers played on a loop.  
He’d already seen these episodes anyway.

In the garage he heard Rick working on something, drinking and muttering to himself as he welded together the pieces of metal. It was a Trans-dimensional... Thing. Rick had told him, but Morty hadn’t been listening, not really.

The Smith house was always busy. Summer had just broken up with her boyfriend, Beth and Jerry were getting back together and Rick was as involved as his science as ever. It seemed like nobody had time to notice that the smallest member of the family didn’t move as fast as he used to. Couldn’t climb up onto the couch without some help.

Nobody really noticed, that Snuffles was dying.

But Morty did.  
He saw how slowly the small dog moved, how exhausted he seemed to be all the time. Snuffles couldn’t play fetch like he used to and, despite Morty's best efforts, just wanted to sleep all day.

The dog wasn’t up to the same things he used to deal with. 

Brain parasites, Tiny Rick, giant floating sky heads. Snuffles had taken them all in his stride and Morty had admired his tenacity and the way everything felt like it was going to be okay when he was around.

Rick had once joked about giving Snuffles some kind of intelligence enhancer and Morty did wonder what the dog would be like if he was more intelligent.  
Jerry liked to call Snuffles stupid, often bullying him however he could. But Morty always told him that he wasn’t stupid, he was just special, it was Jerry who was stupid.

“Imagine feeling like you have to cement the fact you’re more important than the-the damn dog,” Rick had said once, confirming to Morty that Snuffles wasn’t as stupid as Jerry claimed.

Morty kept idly running his fingers through the soft, white fur, counting each breath he took. Snuffles’ chest rose and fell rhythmically, his deep breaths gently warming Morty's neck and keeping him company. Even if the old dog didn’t play like he used to, the teen had always appreciated the company. 

Snuffles was Morty's best friend. 

It was true; he never said there was something wrong with him, never had better things to do, never dragged him out of bed in the middle of the night. Snuffles was his best friend and Morty wasn’t sure he could have gotten through the past few years without him.

As Ball Fondelers came to an end, Morty moved his hand and rested it on his lap.  
The room was silent. His neck, cold. 

For a moment he didn’t know what to do. What to feel.

Morty had seen so many deaths in the past five years; himself, other versions of his family, Rick countless times. Aliens, friends, enemies, even whole worlds. But Morty would never get used to it... Maybe that was the difference between him and Rick, that small sliver of humanity Morty desperately clung to despite it all.

Slowly, he got up and switched off the TV. The room was plunged into darkness but he didn’t need to see to know where he was going.

Lifting the soft, still body into his arms, Morty quietly walked out of the room and then out of the house, standing barefoot on the grass.  
Stars glistened in the midnight sky, only outshone by the moon itself. Rick had once told him that all those stars were already long dead but it was just taking a long time for us to notice. Morty had once stared at the night sky for hours, trying to see if any stars suddenly disappeared but none had.

Now he didn’t even think about them, carefully setting the snow-colored dog down on the silvery grass while he retrieved a shovel from the garage. Inside, Rick looked at Morty silently before going back to his drink. This was something neither of them needed to talk about.

When he got back out onto the front lawn, Morty noticed how peaceful Snuffles looked under the light of the moon, like he was made of stone. He had gone peacefully in his sleep, something Morty thought the brave little dog had earned.  
When he was younger he would have wished for Snuffles to live forever, but now he was just happy to have been able to spend their last moments together in peaceful company. After surviving everything that had happened in the Smith household, he deserved to slip away into the night, warm and loved.

The ground was tough and frozen, making what was already hard work even more difficult but he kept going. Morty had cared for Snuffles since he was a puppy, picking him out himself after just about managing to scrape a C in fifth grade math, so it only seemed right that Morty was the one to put him to rest.

Once the hole was dug, he gently lifted the furry mass back into his arms and cradled him for just a few more moments. The ground had already sapped the warmth out of his body, leaving him as cold as the earth below. 

Morty grit his teeth together to stop himself from shaking, though whether it was from the icy winds that bit at his skin or the silent goodbye that bit at his heart, he wasn’t sure.

Slowly, sadly, he lowered Snuffles into the freshly dug hole then started to fill it in with the loose dirt. The shovel moved quickly, and soon the snow white Shih Tzu was gone, his body becoming one with the Earth. 

When nothing was left but a slight dirt mound, Morty turned and headed back into the house. He had school tomorrow and life would continue, no matter what. 

Pausing on the doorstep, barefoot and shivering, he glanced back at the spot where his beloved dog lay and smiled faintly.  
Snuffles would be forever sleeping under the stars.

**Author's Note:**

> Feels?? Idk, I tried, man. My dog is getting old so she inspired this fic


End file.
